1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to gaming play, jackpot or bonus systems in gaming play, and bonus play in gaming that distributes money among a plurality players playing gaming systems when a jackpot is achieved by one player.
2. Background of the Art
Gaming play is usually considered in two distinct formats, table gaming and slot gaming. Table gaming is the form of wagering where one or more players is present at a table and the house (casino) manages the play of the game, taking and paying off wagers on events that are supervised by the house. Traditional table games include, for example, roulette, craps, blackjack, poker games, poker-like games, Casino War, Candy wheel games, baccarat, Acey-Deucey, matching symbol (or card) games, and the like. Conventional Keno would be considered a table game, even though players are not required to sit at single table. Poker and poker-like games include all of the many variants, including at least Let It Ride® poker, Three Card® poker, High Five® poker, Caribbean Stud® poker, 4-Card stud poker, wild card poker games, and the like.
Slot gaming is a term that derived from the fact that the original games required that coins be wagered in an apparatus by placing coins into a slot. Today, coins, currency, cash cards, credit cards, house cards, account cards, or any other system that can track moneys wagered at a machine and assure collection by the casino are useful wagering formats in slot machine. The slot machine is any apparatus (mechanical, electrical, or electromechanical) in which a player wagers amounts of value (money or credits or debt) in the play of a game that is performed on or displayed by the machine. Originally, slot machines were mechanical devices with spinning wheels or reels, or mechanically arranged cards or panels. A wager was made and the machine was caused (e.g., by pulling a lever) to randomly display images or symbols in a display area. Wagers were won by symbols that were predetermined to be winners. One of the earlier forms of predetermined winning collections of symbols was poker hands. When poker hands of at least minimum ranks were displayed, the device or an attendant would award the player for the value of the hand. Reel-type slot machines display artificial symbols (e.g., cherries, bells, lemons, oranges, 7's, plums, bars, double bars, triple bars, special symbols, etc.) and provide a pay table that identifies winning hands which are paid by the house. Slot machines have progressed from purely mechanical system where power is provided by the players' arms, to electromechanical systems, to purely electronic systems with games actually played by a local or distal processor (computer) and the results displayed on a display system (e.g., CRT, plasma display, liquid crystal display, LED display, etc.). The use of electronic games has greatly increased the flexibility and variety of games that can be played on slot machines.
In both table games and slot machines, the use of jackpots and especially progressive jackpots has been very successful in the gaming industry, attracting many players to the potential for large jackpot payouts. Progressive jackpots have been particularly successful as the jackpot increases over time, reaching dramatic amounts of tens of millions of dollars in some cases. Large jackpot casino table games include Let It Ride® poker and Caribbean Stud® poker. Many slot machines and video gaming systems have progressive jackpots that are either locally connected in banks of machines or more widely based networks among different casinos in the same jurisdiction or region. Networked systems have produced many high value progressive bonus awards, as best exemplified by the Megabucks® slot game. By having games networked, many players are contributing a portion of their wagers to the jackpot, and the many contributions by players increase the jackpot rapidly.
One of the deficiencies of progressive jackpots is that the normal payout to the player must be smaller to both build up the jackpot and provide the house with its required profit margin on wagers. This tends to slant play of progressive games to more heavy play as the progressive jackpot grows, while play diminishes as soon as a jackpot is awarded. This has led to attempts to either moderate the growth of the jackpot to assure higher payout frequencies and lower house retention during normal play. This has been merely a balancing act that has not improved the play or attractiveness of the progressive games.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,063 describes a gambling game in which a collateral gambling game is played that can be won by players on at least one specific event occurring in the principal game. The collateral game is separate from the principal game, but one when any of the possible winning events occur in the principal game, the payment to the player is calculated from the total value available for the game divided by the total number of players who bet on the specific winning event. The game gives a possibility for a large number of players to share in the success of a single player who has successfully won the main game. It may be used with various types of games including those using electronic gaming machines.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,482 describes a random prize awarding system associated with a gaming console is provided in which the gaming console is arranged to play a first game or a second game, the first game being a standard game normally offered on the console and the second game being a jackpot game offered for play when the player has achieved a trigger condition where the trigger means is arranged to test for the trigger condition and to initiate an instance of the second game when the trigger condition occurs. The second game is divided into a plurality of sub-games, each having an incremental prize such that a sum of the un-won incremental prizes equals the total currently available jackpot prize value of the second game. The player is awarded each sub-game after the first, only if the incremental prize was won in the previous sub-game. The jackpot prize value being decremented by the incremental prize value awarded with the occurrence of each winning sub-game. The additional bonus is potentially awarded only to the player that has won the jackpot.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,568 describes an interactive gaming process and system. The system comprises a plurality of gaming machines to be played by plurality of players. The system can be configured such that the gaming machines are either located in a casino or at internet locations. Each gaming machine comprises a wagering game and a theme game, respectively. The wagering game has features that correspond to the theme game wherein the results of the wagering game influence the results of the theme game as the wagering game is being played. The system also includes a controller for electronically linking the gaming machines and providing stimuli to the gaming machines so as to effect gaming machine outputs that are impartial and random. In one embodiment, the plurality of players play the wagering game as a group wherein if one player's theme game results meet predetermined criteria, that particular player will play for the group. The group will then have the opportunity to split a jackpot. In another embodiment, the plurality of players play as a group wherein activation of each player's wagering game either helps or hinders the group as a whole in its effort to achieve a predetermined goal. In a further embodiment, the players play their respective wagering game so as to directly compete against each other in the theme game. The results of the wagering games determine the winnings of each player, the eventual winner of the theme game and/or any predetermined jackpot.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,980 describes a method of a shared jackpot system of a gambling apparatus unit is provided, where the gambling apparatus unit comprises a plurality of coin-operated gambling machines. The gambling machines are linked to each other and jointly fill a jackpot. A predetermined part of the gambling bet of each gambling machine is employed to fill the jackpot. The filling level of the jackpot is displayed on each gambling machine and with a large display. A communication board is coordinated to each gambling apparatus in addition to a control unit. Upon actuation of the gambling machines, it is automatically determined which one of the gambling machines assumes the control in the form of a master. The master gambling machine monitors whether a jackpot trigger value is present. In case a jackpot trigger value is present, a command sequence is sent to all linked gambling machines. At the same time there occurs a final game in the gambling machines based on the command sequence. A rank sequence and a winning quota, respectively, is determined based on the predicted game result and the actual game result, wherein the rank sequence and the winning quota, respectively, represents a distribution key for the jackpot.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,862 describes a method for distributing a progressive jackpot among players at progressive linked gaming machines comprising: providing a plurality of gaming machines, each of said gaming machines being capable of a) accepting a bet of an amount of money from a player, b) after accepting said bet, performing a play cycle initiated by said player, and c) generating an outcome of said play cycle, said outcome being one of a plurality of possible outcomes, at least one of said outcomes being a progressive jackpot-winning outcome; collecting betting data from said gaming machines, said betting data representing said amounts of money bet by players at each of said machines; determining from said betting data the value of a progressive jackpot; detecting the occurrence of said progressive jackpot-winning outcome at one of said gaming machines; and, upon the occurrence of said progressive jackpot-winning outcome, distributing at least a portion of said progressive jackpot among a plurality of eligible players, all of whom will receive a portion of said jackpot, selected from among said players playing at said plurality of gaming machines, said eligible players being selected independently of any of said outcomes at said plurality of said gaming machines. A plurality of progressive jackpots are accumulated and distributed upon the occurrence of a progressive jackpot-winning outcome.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,523 describes a system of linked gaming machines has each of the linked gaming machines connected to a common controller. In a normal mode of play, each of the linked gaming machines operates like a conventional machine where the generation of certain combinations of symbols provides awards to the individual players whose machines generate such combinations. In addition to this normal mode of play, a bonus feature is added where the generation of combinations of bonus symbols is used by a central controller to build up a pooled bonus value based upon the values of the combinations of bonus symbols generated by all the linked gaming machines. When a player hits a combination which causes the accumulated bonus value to meet or exceed a predetermined value, a bonus award is given to the player which caused the threshold to be exceeded.
U.S. Published Patent Application Ser. No. 20030045337 describes a gambling game having a collateral gambling game which can be won by players on at least one specific event occurring in the principal game, the collateral game being separate from the principal game but one when any of the possible winning events occur in the principal game, the payment to the player being calculated from the total value available for the game divided by the total number of players who bet on the specific winning event. The game gives a possibility for a large number of players to share in the success of a single player who has successfully won the main game. It may be used with various types of games including those using electronic gaming machines.
Other disclosures of play and events in bonusing and jackpots include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,435,968 (progressive wagering system); 6,431,983 (incentive to play networked games); 6,416,409 (progressive bonus); 6,364,768 (networked devices w/bonus); 6,358,149 (bonus promotions in systems); 6,231,445 (bonus awards on networks); 6,217,448 (Linked machine bonus system); 6,210,277 (game of chance); 6,102,474 or 6,102,799 (super jackpot bonus funding); 6,012,982 (bonus awards on networks); 5,885,158 (progressive system); 5,766,076 (progressive betting system); 5,580,309 (linked gaming machines); 5,564,700 (progressive payout method); and 5,280,909 (progressive jackpot). Other disclosures include Published U.S. patent applications 20030148808 (personal wide area progressive); 20030064776 (shared success); 20030036430 (competitive linked play); 20030027618 (shared success); 20020155874 (shared success); 20020151345 (shared success); 20020138594 (wide area program); and 20010036857 (jackpot system).
Published U.S. patent application 2003/0186733 A1 describes a gaming apparatus that may include a display unit capable of generating video images, a value input device, and a controller operatively coupled to the display unit and the value input device. The controller may include a processor and a memory operatively coupled to the processor, and may be programmed to allow a person to make a wager. The controller may also be programmed to cause a video image to be generated on the display unit. The video image may represent a game, such as video poker, video blackjack, video slots, video keno or video bingo. The controller may be programmed to determine a value payout associated with an outcome of the game, to compare the value payout to a threshold amount, and to generate a distributed jackpot payout message if the value payout is greater than or equal to the threshold amount.
In spite of these many variations on jackpots and progressive jackpots, additional improvements are desired.